RESURRECTION OF THE RUSSIAN MONARCHY.
From 1304 to 1380.
Defeat of Georges and the Tartars--Indignation of the Khan.--Michel
Summoned to the Horde.--His Trial and Execution.--Assassination of
Georges.--Execution of Dmitri.--Repulse and Death of the Embassador of
the Khan.--Vengeance of the Khan.--Increasing Prosperity of
Russia.--The Great Plague.--Supremacy of Simon.--Anarchy in the
Horde.--Plague and Conflagration.--The Tartars Repulsed.--Reconquest
of Bulgaria.--The Great Battle of Koulikof.--Utter Rout of the
Tartars.
The Tartars, now fierce Mohammedans, began to oppress severely,
particularly in Kief, the Christians. The metropolitan bishop of this
ancient city, with the whole body of the clergy, pursued by
persecution, fled to Vladimir; and others of the Christians of Kief
were scattered over the kingdom.
The death of André was as fatal to Russia as had been his reign. Two
rival princes, Michel of Tver, and Georges of Moscow, grasped at the
shadow of a scepter which had fallen from his hands. In consequence,
war and anarchy for a long time prevailed. At length, Michel, having
appealed to the Tartars and gained their support, ascended the frail
throne. But a fierce war now raged between Novgorod and Moscow. In the
prosecution of this war, Georges obtained some advantage which led
Michel to appeal to the khan. The prince of Moscow was immediately
summoned to appear in the presence of the Tartar chieftain. By the
most ignoble fawning and promises of plunder, Georges obtained the
support of the khan, and returning with a Tartar horde, cruelly
devastated the principality of his foe. Michel and all his subjects,
roused to the highest pitch of indignation, marched to meet the
enemy. The two armies encountered each other a few leagues from
Moscow. The followers of Michel, fighting with the energies of
despair, were unexpectedly successful, and Georges, with his Russian
and Tartar troops, was thoroughly defeated.
Kavgadi, the leader of the Tartar allies of Georges, was taken
prisoner. Michel, appalled by the thought of the vengeance he might
anticipate from the great khan, whose power he had thus ventured to
defy, treated his captive, Kavgadi, with the highest consideration,
and immediately set him at liberty loaded with presents. Georges,
accompanied by Kavgadi, repaired promptly to the court of the khan,
Usbeck, who was then encamped, with a numerous army, upon the shores
of the Caspian Sea. Soon an embassador of the khan arrived at
Vladimir, and informed Michel that Usbeck was exasperated against him
to the highest degree.
"Hasten," said he, "to the court of the great khan, or within a month
you will see your provinces inundated by his troops. Think of your
peril, when Kavgadi has informed Usbeck that you have dared to resist
his authority."
Terrified by these words, the nobles of Michel entreated him not to
place himself in the power of the khan, but to allow some one of them
to visit the _horde_, as it was then called, in his stead, and
endeavor to appease the wrath of the monarch.
"No," replied the high-minded prince; "Usbeck demands my presence not
yours. Far be it from me, by my disobedience, to expose my country to
ruin. If I resist the commands of the khan, my country will be doomed
to new woes; thousands of Christians will perish, the victims of his
fury. It is impossible for us to repel the forces of the Tartars. What
other asylum is there then for me but death? Is it not better for me
to die, if I may thus save the lives of my faithful subjects?"
He made his will, divided his estates among his sons, and entreating
them ever to be faithful to the dictates of virtue, bade them an
eternal adieu. Michel encountered the khan near the mouth of the Don,
as it enters the Sea of Azof. Usbeck was on a magnificent hunting
excursion, accompanied by his chieftains and his army. For six weeks
he did not deign, to pay any attention to the Russian prince, not even
condescending to order him to be guarded. The rich presents Michel had
brought, in token of homage, were neither received nor rejected, but
were merely disregarded as of no moment whatever.
At length, one morning, suddenly, as if recollecting something which
had been forgotten, Usbeck ordered his lords to summon Michel before
them and adjudge his cause. A tent was spread as a tribunal of
justice, near the tent of the khan; and the unhappy prince, bound with
cords, was led before his judges. He was accused of the unpardonable
crime of having drawn his sword against the soldiers of the khan. No
justification could be offered. Michel was cruelly fettered with
chains and thrown into a dungeon. An enormous collar of iron was
riveted around his neck.
Usbeck then set out for the chase, on an expedition which was to last
for one or two months. The annals of the time describe this expedition
with great particularity, presenting a scene of pomp almost surpassing
credence. Some allowance must doubtless be made for exaggeration; and
yet there is a minuteness of detail which, accompanied by
corroborative evidence of the populousness and the power of these
Tartar tribes, invests the narrative with a good degree of
authenticity. We are informed that several hundreds of thousands of
men were in movement; that each soldier was clothed in rich uniform
and mounted upon a beautiful horse; that merchants transported, in
innumerable chariots, the most precious fabrics of Greece and of the
Indies, and that luxury and gayety reigned throughout the immense
camp, which, in the midst of savage deserts, presented the aspect of
brilliant and populous cities. Michel, who was awaiting his sentence
from Usbeck, was dragged, loaded with chains, in the train of the
horde. Georges was in high favor with the khan, and was importunately
urging the condemnation of his rival.
With wonderful fortitude the prince endured his humiliation and
tortures. The nobles who had accompanied him were plunged into
inconsolable grief. Michel endeavored to solace them. He manifested,
through the whole of this terrible trial, the spirit of the Christian,
passing whole nights in prayer and in chanting the Psalms of David. As
his hands were bound, one of his pages held the sacred book before
him. His faithful followers urged him to take advantage of the
confusion and tumult of the camp to effect his escape. "Never,"
exclaimed Michel, "will I degrade myself by flight. Moreover, should I
escape, that would save _me_ only, not my country. God's will be
done."
The horde was now encamped among the mountains of Circassia. It was
the 22d of November, 1319, when, just after morning prayers, which
were conducted by an abbé and two priests, who accompanied the Russian
prince, Michel was informed that Usbeck had sentenced him to death. He
immediately called his young son Constantin, a lad twelve years of
age, into his presence, and gave his last directions to his wife and
children.
"Say to them," enjoined this Christian prince, "that I go down into
the tomb cherishing for them the most ardent affection. I recommend to
their care the generous nobles, the faithful servants who have
manifested so much zeal for their sovereign, both when he was upon the
throne and when in chains."
These thoughts of home overwhelmed him, and, for a moment losing his
fortitude, he burst into tears. Causing the Bible to be opened to the
Psalms of David, which, in all ages, have been the great fountain of
consolation to the afflicted, he read from the fifty-sixth Psalm,
fifth verse, "Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror
hath overwhelmed me."
"Prince," said the abbé, "in the same Psalm with which you are so
familiar, are the words, 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall
sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'"
Michel simply replied by quoting again from the same inspired page:
"Oh that I had wings like a dove; for then would I fly away and be at
rest."
At that moment one of the pages entered the tent, pale and trembling,
and informed that a great crowd of people were approaching. "I know
why they are coming," said the prince, and he immediately sent his
young son away on a message, that the child might not witness the
cruel execution of his father. Two brawny barbarians entered the tent.
As the prince was fervently praying, they smote him down with clubs,
trampled him beneath their feet, and then plunged a poignard into his
heart. The crowd which had followed the executioners, according to
their custom rushed into the royal tent for pillage. The gory body was
left in the hands of the Russian nobles. They enveloped the remains in
precious clothes, and bore them with affectionate care back to Moscow.
Georges, now confirmed in the dignity of grand prince by the khan,
returned to Vladimir, where he established his government, sending his
brother to Novgorod to reign over that principality in his name.
Dmitri, and others of the sons of Michel, for several years waged
implacable warfare against Georges, with but little success. The khan,
however, did not deign to interfere in a strife which caused him no
trouble. But in the year 1325 Georges again went to the horde on the
eastern banks of the Caspian. At the same time, Dmitri appeared in the
encampment. Meeting Georges accidentally, whom he justly regarded as
the murderer of his father, he drew his sword, and plunged it to the
hilt in the heart of the grand prince. The khan, accustomed to such
deeds of violence, was not disposed to punish the son who had thus
avenged the death of his father. But the friends of Georges so
importunately urged that to pardon such a crime would be an
ineffaceable stain upon his honor, would be an indication of weakness,
and would encourage the Russian princes in the commission of other
outrages, that after the lapse of ten months, during which time Dmitri
had been detained a captive, Usbeck ordered his execution, and the
unfortunate prince was beheaded. Dmitri was then but twenty-seven
years of age.
And yet Usbeck seems to have had some regard for the cause of the
young prince, for he immediately appointed Alexander, a brother of
Dmitri, and son of Michel, to succeed Georges in the grand
principality. The Novgorodians promptly received him as their ruler.
Affairs wore in this State when, at the close of the summer of 1327,
an embassador of Usbeck appeared, with a band of Tartars, and entered
the royal city of Tver, which was the residence of Alexander. The
principality of the Tver was spread along the head waters of the
Volga, just north of the principality of Moscow. The report spread
through the city that the Mogol embassador, Schevkal, who was a
zealous Mohammedan, had come to convert the Russians to Mohammedanism,
that he intended the death of Alexander, to ascend the throne himself,
and to distribute the cities of the principality to his followers.
The Tverians, in a paroxysm of terror and despair, rallied for the
support of their prince and their religion. In a terrible tumult all
the inhabitants rose and precipated themselves upon the embassador and
his valiant body guard. From morning until night the battle raged in
the streets of Tver. The Tartars, overpowered by numbers, and greatly
weakened by losses during the day, took refuge in a palace. The
citizens set the palace on fire, and every Tartar perished, either
consumed by the flames or cut down by the Russians.
When Usbeck heard of this event, he was, at first, stupefied by the
audacity of the deed. He imagined that all Russia was in the
conspiracy, and that there was to be a general rising to throw off the
Tartar yoke. Still Usbeck, with his characteristic sagacity, decided
to employ the Russians to subdue the Russians. He at once deposed and
outlawed Alexander, and declared Jean Danielovitch, of Moscow, to be
grand prince, who promised the most obsequious obedience to his
wishes. At the same time he sent an army of fifty-thousand Tartars to
coöperate with the Russian army, which Jean Danielovitch was commanded
to put in motion for the invasion of the principality of Tver. It was
in vain to think of resistance, and Alexander fled. The invading army,
with awful devastation, ravaged the principality. Multitudes were
slain. Others were dragged into captivity. The smoking ruins of the
cities and villages of Tver became the monument of the wrath of the
khan. Alexander, pursued by the implacable wrath of Usbeck, was
finally taken and beheaded.
But few particulars are known respecting the condition of southern
Russia at this time. The principalities were under the government of
princes who were all tributary to the Tartars, and yet these princes
were incessantly quarreling with one another, and the whole country
was the scene of violence and blood.
The energies of the Tartar horde were now engrossed by internal
dissensions and oriental wars, and for many years, the conquerors
still drawing their annual tribute from the country, but in no other
way interfering with its concerns, devoted all their energies to
conspiracies and bloody battles among themselves. Moscow now became
the capital of the country, and under the peaceful reign of Jean,
increased rapidly in wealth and splendor. Jean, acting professedly as
the agent of Usbeck, extorted from many of the principalities double
tribute, one half of which he furtively appropriated to the increase
of the wealth, splendor and power of his own dominions. His reign was
on the whole one of the most prosperous Russia had enjoyed for ages.
Agriculture and commerce flourished. The Volga was covered with boats,
conveying to the Caspian the furs and manufactures of the North, and
laden, on their return, with the spices and fabrics of the Indies. On
the 31st of March, 1340, Jean died. As he felt the approach of death
his spirit was overawed by the realities of the eternal world. Laying
aside his regal robes he assumed the dress of a monk, and entering a
monastery, devoted his last days zealously to prayer. His end was
peace.
Immediately after his death there were several princes who were
ambitious of grasping the scepter which he had dropped, and, as Usbeck
alone could settle that question, there was a general rush to the
horde. Simeon, the eldest son of Jean, and his brothers, were among
the foremost who presented themselves in the tent of the all-powerful
khan. Simeon eloquently urged the fidelity with which his father had
always served the Mogol prince, and he promised, in his turn, to do
every thing in his power to merit the favor of the khan. So
successfully did he prosecute his suit that the khan declared him to
be grand prince, and commanded all his rivals to obey him as their
chief.
The manners of the barbarian Mogols had, for some time, been assuming
a marked change. They emerged from their native wilds as fierce and
untamed as wolves. The herds of cattle they drove along with them
supplied them with food, and the skins of these animals supplied them
with clothing and with tents. Their home was wherever they happened to
be encamped, but, having reached the banks of the Black Sea and the
fertile valleys of the Volga and the Don, they became acquainted with
the luxuries of Europe and of the more civilized portions of Asia.
Commerce enriched them. Large cities were erected, embellished by the
genius of Grecian and Italian architects. Life became more desirable,
and the wealthy chieftains, indulging in luxury, were less eager to
encounter the exposure and perils of battle. The love of wealth now
became with them a ruling passion. For gold they would grant any
favors. The golden promises of Simeon completely won the heart of
Usbeck, and the young prince returned to Moscow flushed with success.
He assumed such airs of superiority and of power as secured for him
the title of _The Superb_. He caused himself to be crowned king, with
much religious pomp, in the cathedral of Vladimir. Novgorod manifested
some resistance to his assumptions. He instantly invaded the
principality, hewed down all opposition, and punished his opponents
with such severity that there was a simultaneous cry for mercy.
Rapidly he extended his power, and the fragmentary principalities of
Russia began again to assume the aspect of concentration and adhesion.
Ere two years had elapsed, Usbeck, the khan, died. This remarkable man
had been, for some time, the friend and the ally of Pope Benoit XII.,
who had hoped to convert him to the Christian religion. The khan had
even allowed the pope to introduce Christianity to the Tartar
territories bordering on the Black Sea. Tchanibek, the oldest son of
Usbeck, upon the death of his father, assassinated his brothers, and
thus attained the supreme authority. He was a zealous Mohammedan, and
commenced his reign by commanding all the princes of the
principalities of Russia to hasten to the horde and prostrate
themselves, in token of homage, before his throne. The least delay
would subject the offender to confiscation and death. Simeon was one
of the first to do homage to the new khan. He was received with great
favor, and dismissed confirmed in all his privileges.
In the year 1346, one of the most desolating plagues recorded in
history, commenced its ravages in China, and swept over all Asia and
nearly all Europe. The disease is recorded in the ancient annals under
the name of Black Death. Thirteen millions of the population were, in
the course of a few months, swept into the grave. Entire cities were
depopulated, and the dead by thousands lay unburied. The pestilence
swept with terrible fury the encampments of the Tartars, and weakened
that despotic power beyond all recovery. But one third of the
population of the principalities of Pskof and of Novgorod were left
living. At London fifty thousand were interred in a single cemetery.
The disease commenced with swellings on the fleshy parts of the body,
a violent spitting of blood ensued, which was followed by death the
second or third day.
It is impossible, according to the ancient annalists, to imagine a
spectacle so terrible. Young and old, fathers and children, were buried
in the same grave. Entire families disappeared in a day. Each curate
found, every morning, thirty dead bodies, often more, in his church.
Greedy men at first offered their services to the dying, hoping to
obtain their estates, but when it was found that the disease was
communicated by touch, even the most wealthy could obtain no aid. The
son fled from the father. The brother avoided the brother. Still there
were not a few examples of the most generous and self-sacrificing
devotion. Medical skill was of no avail whatever, and the churches were
thronged with the multitudes who, in the midst of the dying and the
dead, were crying to God for aid. Multitudes in their terror bequeathed
all their property to the church, and sought refuge in the monasteries.
It truth, it appeared as if Heaven had pronounced the sentence of
immediate death upon the whole human family.
Five times, during his short reign, Simeon was compelled to repair to
the horde, to remove suspicions and appease displeasure. He at length
so far ingratiated himself into favor with the khan, that the Tartar
sovereign conferred upon him the title of Grand Prince of _all the
Russias_. The death of Simeon in the year 1353, caused a general rush
of the princes of the several principalities to the Tartar horde, each
emulous of being appointed his successor. Tchanibek, the khan, after
suitable deliberation, conferred the dignity upon Jean Ivanovitch of
Moscow. His reign of six years was disturbed by a multiplicity of
intestine feuds, but no events occurred worthy of record. He died in
1359.
Again the Russian princes crowded to the horde, as, in every age,
office seekers have thronged the court. The khan, after due
deliberation, conferred the investiture of the grand principality upon
Dmitri of Souzdal, though the appointment was received with great
dissatisfaction by the other princes. But now the power of the Tartars
was rapidly on the decline. Assassination succeeded assassination, one
chieftain after another securing the assassination of his rival and
with bloody hands ascending the Mogol throne. The swords of the Mogol
warriors were turned against each other, as rival chieftains rallied
their followers for attack or defense. Civil war raged among these
fierce bands with most terrible ferocity. Famine and pestilence
followed the ravages of the sword.
While the horde was in this state of distraction, antagonistic khans
began to court the aid of the Russian princes, and a successful Tartar
chieftain, who had poignarded his rival, and thus attained the throne,
deposed Dmitri of Souzdal, and declared a young prince, Dmitri of
Moscow, to be sovereign of Russia. But as the khan, whose whole
energies were required to retain his disputed throne, could send no
army into Russia to enforce this decree, Dmitri of Souzdal paid but
little attention to the paper edict. Immediately the Russian princes
arrayed themselves on different sides. The conflict was short, but
decisive, and the victorious prince of Moscow was crowned as
sovereign. The light of a resurrection morning was now dawning upon
the Russian monarchy. There were, fortunately, at this time, two rival
khans beyond the waves of the Caspian opposing each other with bloody
cimeters. The energetic young prince, by fortunate marriage, and by
the success of his arms, rapidly extended his authority. But again the
awful plague swept Russia. The annalists of those days thus describe
the symptoms and the character of the malady:
"One felt himself suddenly struck as by a knife plunged into the heart
through the shoulder blades or between the two shoulders. An intense
fire seemed to burn the entrails; blood flowed freely from the throat;
a violent perspiration ensued, followed by severe chills; tumors
gathered upon the neck, the hip, under the arms or behind the shoulder
blades. The end was invariably the same--death, inevitable, speedy,
but terrible."
Out of a hundred persons, frequently not more than ten would be left
alive. Moscow was almost depopulated. In Smolensk but five individuals
escaped, and they were compelled to abandon the city, the houses and
the streets being encumbered with the putrefying bodies of the
dead.[2] Just before this disaster, Moscow suffered severely from a
conflagration. The imperial palace and a large portion of the city
were laid in ashes. The prince then resolved to construct a Kremlin of
stone, and he laid the foundations of a gorgeous palace in the year
1367.
[Footnote 2: See Histoire de l'Empire de Russie, par M. Karamsin.
Traduite par MM. St. Thomas et Jauffret. Tome cinquieme, p. 10.]
Dmitri now began to bid defiance to the Tartars, doubly weakened by
the sweep of the pestilence and by internal discord. There were a few
minor conflicts, in which the Russians were victorious, and, elated by
success, they began to rally for a united effort to shake off the
degrading Mogol yoke. Three bands of the Tartars were encamped at the
mouth of the Dnieper. The Russians descended the river in barges,
assailed them with the valor which their fathers had displayed, and
drove the pagans, in wild rout, to the shores of the Sea of Azof.
The Tartars, astounded at such unprecedented audacity, forgetting, for
the time, their personal animosities, collected a large army, and
commenced a march upon Moscow. The grand prince dispatched his
couriers in every direction to assemble the princes of the empire with
all the soldiers they could bring into the field. Again the Tartars
were repulsed. For many years the Tartars had been in possession of
Bulgaria, an extensive region east of the Volga. In the year 1376, the
grand prince, Dmitri, fitted out an expedition for the reconquest of
that country. The Russian arms were signally successful. The Tartars,
beaten on all hands, their cities burned, their boats destroyed, were
compelled to submit to the conqueror. A large sum of money was
extorted from them to be distributed among the troops. They were
forced to acknowledge themselves, in their turn, tributary to Russia,
and to accept Russian magistrates for the government of their cities.
Encouraged by this success, the grand prince made arrangements for
other exploits. A border warfare ensued, which was continued for
several years with alternating success and with great ferocity.
Neither party spared age or sex, and cities and villages were
indiscriminately committed to the flames. Russia was soon alarmed by
the rumor that Mamai, a Tartar chieftain, was approaching the
frontiers of Russia with one of the largest armies the Mogols had ever
raised. This intelligence roused the Russians to the highest pitch of
energy to meet their foes in a decisive battle. An immense force was
soon assembled at Moscow from all parts of the kingdom. After having
completed all his arrangements, Dmitri, with his chief captains,
repaired to the church of the Trinity to receive the benediction of
the metropolitan bishop.
"You will triumph," said the venerable ecclesiastic, "but only after
terrible carnage. You will vanquish the enemy, but your laurels will
be sprinkled with the blood of a vast number of Christian heroes."
The troops, accompanied by ecclesiastics who bore the banners of the
cross, passed out at the gate of the Kremlin. As the majestic host
defiled from the city, the grand prince passed the hours in the church
of Saint Michael, kneeling upon the tomb of his ancestors, fervently
imploring the blessing of Heaven. Animated by the strength which
prayer ever gives, he embraced his wife, saying, "God will be our
defender," and then, mounting his horse, placed himself at the head of
his army. It was a beautiful summer's day, calm, serene and cloudless,
and the whole army were sanguine in the hope that God would smile upon
their enterprise. Marching nearly south, along the valley of the
Moskwa, they reached, in a few days, the large city of Kolomna, a
hundred miles distant, on the banks of the Oka. Here they were joined
by several confederate princes, with their contingents of troops,
swelling the army to one hundred and fifty thousand men. Seventy-five
thousand of these were cavalry, superbly mounted. Never had Russia,
even in her days of greatest splendor, witnessed a more magnificent
array.
Mamai, the Tartar khan, had assembled the horde, in numbers which he
deemed overwhelming, on the waters of the Don. Resolved not to await
the irruption of the foe, on the 20th of August, Dmitri, with his
army, crossed the Oka, and pressed forward towards the valley of the
Don. They reached this stream on the 6th of September. Soon
detachments of the advanced guards of the two armies met, and several
skirmishes ensued. Dmitri assembled his generals in solemn conclave,
and saying to them, "The hour of God's judgment has sounded," gave
minute directions for the conflict. Aided by a dense fog, which
concealed their operations from the view of the enemy, the army
crossed the Don, the cavalry fording the stream, while the infantry
passed over by a hastily-constructed bridge. Dmitri deployed his
columns in battle array upon the vast plain of Koulikof. A mound of
earth was thrown up, that Dmitri, upon its summit, might overlook the
whole plain.
As the Russian prince stood upon this pyramid and contemplated his
army, there was spread before him such a spectacle as mortal eyes
have seldom seen. A hundred and fifty thousand men were marshaled on
the plain. It was the morning of the 8th of September, 1380. Thousands
of banners fluttered in the breeze. The polished armor of the
cavaliers, cuirass, spear and helmet, glittered in the rays of the
sun. Seventy-five thousand steeds, gorgeously caparisoned, were
neighing and prancing over the verdant savanna. The soldiers,
according to their custom, shouted the prayer, which rose like the
roar of many waters, "Great God, grant to our sovereign the victory."
The whole sublime scene moved the soul of Dmitry to its profoundest
depths; and as he reflected that in a few hours perhaps the greater
portion of that multitude might lie dead upon the field, tears gushed
from his eyes, and kneeling upon the summit of the mound, in the
presence of the whole army, he extended his hands towards heaven in a
fervent prayer that God would protect Russia and Christianity from the
heel of the infidel. Then, mounting his horse, he rode along the
ranks, exclaiming,
"My brothers dearly beloved; my faithful companions in arms: by your
exploits this day you will live for ever in the memory of men; and
those of you who fall will find, beyond the tomb, the crown of
martyrs."
The Tartar host approached upon the boundless plain slowly and
cautiously, but in numbers even exceeding those of the Russians.
Notwithstanding the most earnest remonstrances of his generals, Dmitri
led the charge, exposing himself to every peril which the humblest
soldier was called to meet.
"It is not in me," said he, "to seek a place of safety while crying
out to you, '_My brothers, let us die for our country!_' My actions
shall correspond with my words. I am your chief. I will be your guide.
I will go in advance, and, if I die, it is for you to avenge me."
Again ascending the mound, the king, with a loud voice, read the
forty-sixth Psalm: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the
sea." The battle was immediately commenced, with ferocity on both
sides which has probably never been surpassed. For three hours the two
armies were blended in a hand to hand fight, spreading over a space
seven miles in length. Blood flowed in torrents, and the sod was
covered with the slain. Here the Russians were victorious and the
Tartars fled before them. There the Tartars, with frenzied shouts,
chased the Russians in awful rout over the plain. Dmitri had stationed
a strong reserve behind a forest. When both parties were utterly
exhausted, suddenly this reserve emerged from their retreat and rushed
upon the foe. Vladimir, the brother of Dmitri, led the charge. The
Mogols, surprised, confounded, overwhelmed and utterly routed, in the
wildest confusion, and with outcries which rent the heavens, turned
and fled. "The God of the Christians has conquered," exclaimed the
Tartar chief, gnashing his teeth in despair. The Tartars were hewed
down by saber strokes from unexhausted arms, and trampled beneath the
hoofs of the war horse. The entire camp of the horde, with immense
booty of tents, chariots, horses, camels, cattle and precious
commodities of every kind, fell into the hands of the captors.
The valorous prince Vladimir, the hero of the day, returned to the
field of battle, which his cavalry had swept like a tornado, and
planting his banner upon a mound, with signal trumpets, summoned the
whole victorious host to rally around it. The princes, the nobles,
from every part of the extended field, gathered beneath its folds. But
to their consternation, the grand prince, Dmitri, was missing. Amidst
the surgings of the battle he had disappeared, and was nowhere to be
found.